Arctic Beach Christmas Tree “Shopping”

I started typing this post up right after Thanksgiving and now I’d like to finish it and share it with you…

“Life has been hectic. I have hardly spent a weekend home and have been traveling for various professional reasons during the week. I feel as if I haven’t seen my students in a while.

With all of that being said, I haven’t had much time to update here, so here is a small update on my past Saturday.

For Thanksgiving, my friend, Brittni, came over. She is a friend from home, but recently relocated to our hub town. It was nice to have a familiar face with whom to spend the holiday weekend.

As Thanksgiving ended, Christmas spirit began.

My roommate…”

To continue the story, my roommate and I decided that we should have a Christmas tree. We had been gifted Christmas lights by a long term sub when her time in our school was up. I was in the Christmas mood, having made a Christmas playlist on Spotify and dreaming of the cookies I would bake while reunited with my mother back home.

Our island and the tundra surrounding us does not have trees. I remember my first two months without trees and the amazement and excitement at seeing them again. The lack of trees doesn’t faze me nearly as much anymore.

My roommate came up with the brilliant idea to pick up some drift wood from the beach, disinfect it from the dogs that claim it as their own, and string it with lights.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I wandered out to the beach with Brittni and picked up various pieces of driftwood along the way, until we found the Christmas “tree” I had envisioned. It was bushy tangle of branches that I had taken plenty of pictures of across the seasons.

We picked it up, shaking off the snow, and carried it home to set it in the tub for the rest of the snow to melt. After a while, it found a home in a Full Circle (produce delivery company) cardboard box. It was set in the corner and strung up with lights and we had our very own Kivalina “grown” arctic beach Christmas tree!

(Now it has been dismantled and removed, but it was great while it lasted!)